Still, I wasn’t trying to analyze her or make her feel self-conscious, so I left it alone. What I thought those words said was that I was a safe person for her, and that would mean I was one of the few people who’d been that for her after the bullying and the attack.
I wish I could remember more about her from when we were in school together, but things were hazy every time I tried to pull up more details or moments. I remember watching her from time to time, noting movements and expressions. I also remembered trying to create the exact shade of the strawberry blonde of her hair, but I couldn’t pinpoint why.
I was so caught up in my contemplation of all things Sienna Blake that it took me a while to realize she was rubbing my abdomen with her hand.
Sure, I had on my shorts and the comforter covered me to the waist, but she was dangerously close to the waistband of my jockey shorts and the erection I was now sporting. I could easily have explained the concept of morning wood to her, but I doubt it’d make a difference. Plus, I couldn’t say it was all down to that natural male phenomenon, so I’d be lying, and I didn’t want to do that to her.
So, I was going to have to subtly move her hand away from the area, before we headed into a potentially uncomfortable situation.
But then she did the face-nuzzling thing again, and I was toast as my mind went blank. All of the moves were so innocent, and I knew she wouldn’t have a clue what they were doing to me, so I bit back the groan that wanted to burst free.
Just as she was angling her head on one of the nuzzles, her lips brushed across my nipple, and for the first time I realized how sensitive they were. I was a guy and my nipples weren’t really that important in the grand scheme of my anatomy, but it was like my stomach cramped with how great it felt when she did it.
I needed to find a way out of this before I rushed her too fast.
“I need to get up, baby,” I whispered, then froze when a thought occurred to me. I’d just committed myself to getting out of bed with her there watching me, and no way to hide my hard-on. Without meaning to, I groaned, “Fuck’s sake!”
Lifting her head, she looked down at me, her eyes looking like she was struggling to focus. “Are you okay?”
Glancing around the room for a sign of where my shirt had gone to, hoping I could pick it up and cover my crotch with it, I replied, “Great. I was just thinking of a tattoo a customer wants done on his back.”
I’d broken my no lying decision, but there was no other way around it. Was it really lying when the chances were high I’d be tattooing a guy’s back today at some point?
“Jordan,” she called gently, and I had zero willpower not to look at her. Running her thumb over my eyebrow, she admitted, “I didn’t think I’d sleep at all last night, but I didn’t wake up once. I even dreamt properly, instead of in tiny amounts here and there.”
I wasn’t a specialist of any form, but I knew and had a vague understanding of what a REM cycle was, and the benefits of going into one at night.
“How long’s it been since you’ve done that?” I asked, lifting the hair that’d fallen over the side of her face away and bunching it at the side of her head.
Looking at the pillow beside my head, she chewed on her lower lip. Torture. Absolute, utter, fucking torture. “I don’t remember.”
Her strength floored me. “Jesus, Sienna, it’s a wonder you can function. How anyone can go for so long without proper sleep”—I shook my head—“and still be part of society, I don’t know.”
Her eyes sparkled as she grinned at me. “Maybe I’m a mutant?”
“Then you’d be the most beautiful mutant ever.” And that was no lie.
Her face softened as she looked down at me, her eyes trailing down my face to stop on my mouth. It was a weighty moment, and although we were relaxed, there was an undercurrent of sexual tension growing.
And the longer she stared, the more it grew until I couldn’t hold back anymore. I just didn’t have the willpower.
“Kiss me.” It was part dare, part request.
“I should brush my t—”
“No,” I said firmly. “Kiss me, Sienna.”
“But your mouth dries out while you sleep, and that means that the stinky bacteria—”
“Fuck it. I’ll just kiss you.”
Pulling her head down to meet mine as I lunged up, I kissed her, not giving a flying fuck about morning breath. Some people might, but they were unlucky because they didn’t have someone like Sienna in their life. Trust me, if you had someone as special as her, she could be covered in mud, and you’d still want to kiss her.